Faith
by planet p
Summary: Story Repost! AU, Timmy remembers Faith, after she is gone.


**Faith** by planet p

**Disclaimer** I don't own _the Pretender_ or any of its characters.

**Author's Notes** AU! Story Repost! Written in 2006. Originally Chapter Two of _Yesterday, when we were young_ entitled _Faith_.

* * *

Timmy lay on his stomach in his room, pillow clutched to his chest, thinking about the above and all the things he almost couldn't quite remember anymore.

He sighed and thought about Faith. They said she had died. He wondered if it was true.

He remembered how Jarod and Parker had put him up to doing stupid things, most of which included confessing his love for Faith and the fact that he secretly wanted to marry her and that they would have twenty-six babies.

He shook his head. Of course, he didn't love Faith, and he certainly didn't want to marry her and make her have twenty-six babies, especially when the typical gestation period for a human infant was nine months and she wasn't even of reproducing age. It was beyond him where those two got all their ideas. But then again, apparently, as the talk went, Jarod was a genius.

But now Faith was gone, dead or not, so none of it really mattered anymore. Except that, he did miss her sometimes. Mostly when it was dark and he couldn't sleep. In the middle of the night or the early morning before it got light in the above world, before there was any light for the plants to photosynthesise.

The nightmares would wake him and then the feelings would come. Voices too sometimes, and images, but mostly feelings.

He closed his eyes and tried to remember Faith, tried to remember who she really was and what made her just Faith. Sure she had been a girl. Sure she had had pretty hair and an even prettier smile. But what else? There had to be something else. Something more than the eyes could see. Something more than the ears could hear. Something more than sensory perception. Yes, there was feeling; deep down inside, there was feeling that frothed and bubbled and screamed to live and be let free.

* * *

_Timmy sat in the corner, knees drawn up to his chest, shivering, completely wet, from head to toe. The sound of someone entering the room caused him to look up._

_Faith all but skipped into the bathroom, beaming her on-top-of-the-world smile._

_"Noooo!" Timmy howled._

_Faith froze, her eyes darting to the source of the wail._

_"Now you're stuck too!"_

_"Timmy?"_

_Timmy sniffed, head on his knees, gazing down at his feet sadly._

_"Jarod and Parker fixed this?"_

_Timmy sniffed in confirmation._

_Faith strode over and sat down in front of the boy, crossing her legs, elbows on her thighs. "I imagine this is another one of their attempts to match-make the two of us?"_

_Timmy wailed. "Oh don't! Just go away!"_

_Faith giggled. "I had been meaning to ask. So I figure, now is as good a time as any, seeing as you are sending me away, and I will soon be gone. Why exactly are you wet?"_

_"Parker dragged me in here cos she thought I wouldn't try to escape if she did it, cos she's a girl. But I stomped on her foot and Jarod got mad and chucked water on me so I would pipe down."_

_Faith nodded understandingly. "I bet Parker liked that."_

_Timmy sniffed. "She hit him across the head. The she just cackled like some evil witch and shot him a cute smile, muttering something about 'I like your work'."_

_Faith shook her head. "It's a Parker thing."_

_"I mighta guessed."_

_The little girl blinked. "Are you very cold?"_

_Timmy started to nod before he realised that Faith was a girl and that boys weren't meant to sook-out in front of girls._

_Faith shook her head. "Timmy, you idiot! I'm not gonna like you any less if you are cold. You're soaking wet after all."_

_Timmy looked up suddenly, his eyes very wide. "You l-like m-me-ee?"_

_Faith nodded. "That's right." She bit her lip. "Oh dear. As a friend. You understand? Besides, I already have a boyfriend," she finished matter-of-factly._

_Timmy calmed a little, his teeth chattering. "Really?"_

_Faith nodded knowledgeably. "Yup!"_

_"Who?"_

_Faith blinked, sobering instantly. "Not telling," she replied simply._

_Timmy looked to his feet. "Oh."_

_After several minutes of awkward silence, Faith finally noticed something. "Where are your shoes?" she piped up._

_"Don't know."_

_Faith giggled. "Why aren't you wearing them, silly boy?"_

_"I don't like them!" Timmy protested._

_"All domesticated humans with means wear shoes."_

_Timmy huffed, crossing his arms tight across his chest. "Well I don't!"_

_"I think I should suggest to Parker, she get you a new shiny collar. I'm sure she would be pleased. Then Jarod could teach you tricks and all, and we could feed you dog food. I think I should like that. Yes, I should like that very much."_

_Timmy huffed again, hiding his face in his arms. "Go away! You said you would."_

_Faith sighed, getting to her feet. "Alright, alright. No need to hustle, already. And don't you be going and getting all snooty with me, young man, I'm not the one who doesn't want to wear his shoes. Next thing we know, you'll be running around stark naked and speaking of joining a nudist colony."_

_Timmy screamed. "What?"_

_Faith only grinned. "Why must boys always do this to me? I must leave at once, before you put any more feral ideas in my pretty little head," she replied in oh so high-and-mighty tones._

_"I like my clothes, I'll have you know!" Timmy protested, getting to his feet roughly._

_Faith took several steps backward. "Oh my word!" she exclaimed in a flustered voice, fanning her face with her hands, "Oh my! The feral speaks! Oh my word, I think I'm going to faint!"_

_Timmy growled. "The feral might just bite you in a minute too!"_

_Faith squealed, turning tail and running._

_Timmy chased after her, all the way to the door._

_Faith banged on the door frantically. "Lemme out! Lemme out! It's got rabies! They made it rabid! It's gonna eat me! I don't wanna die!"_

_She spun around and glared at Timmy._

_"Stay back!" she warned, pointing, her eyes overlarge._

_Timmy huffed, shaking his head. "Girls are the ferals," he mumbled, "not me!" He trailed off to his corner and sat down._

_Faith sighed heavily, traipsing over to the little boy and plonked herself down beside him, sliding down the wall. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her left ear, gazing across at Timmy. "Come on, it was funny!"_

_Timmy snorted. "I didn't think it was very funny!" he retorted, shivering to himself._

_Faith shook her head, her hair falling back into her eyes. "If they let me out then I could have rescued you."_

_Timmy huffed. "But they didn't."_

_Faith sighed. "Gee, you're a sook!"_

_Timmy didn't say anything for a while._

_Faith ran her fingers along the flower patterns on her dress absently. A loud sniff made her turn. She frowned. "You're not going to cry, are you?" she asked, "just because I called you a 'sook'?"_

_Timmy buried his head deeper in his arms and shifted away from her._

_"I could have said lots of other mean things!" she complained. "Don't be silly! I didn't really mean you were a sook! I was just joking."_

_"That's what Jar and P say," Timmy whispered, "but I don't like being locked away on my own. They don't even care. They think it's funny. They don't have to have me under their feet when they go exploring. I always get them in trouble P says. 'Your fault, Timmy! Why do you have to be such a klutz? Can't you just, like, act normal? Cos you know, you're not a freak!'"_

_"That's not true!" Faith admonished loudly. "You're not a freak! And you are normal-ish. But all of us are a little different. And that's what makes us special! Besides, Parker's just being bossy! She's prob'ly just showing off in front of Jarod because she likes him. She told me so. She said she thinks he's a little bit cute."_

_Timmy continued to sob into his knees. "I miss above."_

_Faith sighed heavily. "We all miss above when we're down here. No one should have to stay down here. But one day you'll be free again, and then it won't matter any longer."_

_Timmy shook his head, tears scattering across the floor higgledy-piggledy. "How can it not matter? It has to matter! You just think you know so much, but you're just talking! And you don't even know what you're talking about!"_

_Faith gasped. "Timmy! That was a really horrid thing to say."_

_Timmy turned to her and screamed, ripping on his head. "GOOD!"_

_Faith scrambled back, frightened. "I hate you!"_

_"GOOD!" the little boy roared, fresh tears spilling down his cheeks._

_

* * *

_

_Faith sat across the room, leant against the door, glaring at Timmy as he cried into his arms. Eventually she grew tired of glaring, and rested her own head on her arms._

_She seemed to have fallen asleep when a sudden movement roused her. She looked up to see Timmy's wide blue eyes staring into her own dark ones._

_"I'm sorry I yelled at you," he whispered. "I didn't mean to scare you."_

_Faith sniffed. "I'm sorry too. For calling you mean names."_

_Timmy sniffed and smiled slightly. "Are you cold?"_

_Faith nodded slowly. "A little," she answered truthfully._

_"Me too."_

_Faith smiled along with the little boy and held out her arms for a hug._

_And that was exactly how Catherine found them, hours later, fast asleep, in each others arms._


End file.
